3. Geometry & Trigonometry

The Geometry & Trigonometry topic has twice as much content at the HL level (51 suggested teaching hrs) than the SL level (25 suggested teaching hrs) because there is no vectors content at the SL level.

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exercise sets, quizzes & tests for teaching units in Geometry & Trig

6 Sept 2022: A second trigonometry unit test that can be used with SL and/or HL students and full worked solutions has been posted: AA_SLHL_Test2_trig

Changes compared to previous Maths HL-SL syllabusses:
As mentioned above, the most significant change is that vectors is only at HL level. Thus, at SL level it is expected that when a student is required to determine the measure of an angle it wil always involve the use of right triangle trigonometry. The only other change is the addition of the following content in syllabus item SL 3.1*: volume and surface area of 3D solids including right pyramid, right cone, sphere, hemisphere and combinations of these solids.

Geometry & Trigonometry - syllabus overview

Syllabus item numbers are in brackets.

SL - Geometry & Trig

SL core (AA & AI)

3D geometry (3.1)

triangle trigonometry & applications (3.2, 3.3)

SL (AA)

angles, circles, arcs & sectors (3.4)

trig functions, equations & identities (3.5 - 3.8)

sine rule – ambiguous case (3.5)

HL - Geometry & Trig

HL (AA)

further trig functions, identities & properties (3.9 - 3.11)

vector basics (3.12)

scalar product & applications (3.13)

vectors – equations of lines (3.14, 3.15)

vector product & applications (3.16)

lines and planes in space (3.17, 3.18)

 Exercise Sets, Quizzes & Tests

AA_SL_3.2(8)_trig1_v1  
Set of six questions covering trigonometry content from syllabus item 3.2 to 3.8.  No GDC on Qs 1-4; GDC allowed on Qs 5 & 6. The syllabus content is appropriate for both SL and HL students.  Worked solutions are included on the 2nd page.


AA_SL_Test1_trig_v1
Trigonometry test covering the following syllabus items: using trigonometric ratios to find sides and angles of right-angled triangles; area of triangle; area of sector; angles of elevation & depression; sine rule (including ambiguous case); cosine rule; use of bearings; angle between a line and a plane. Solution key (worked solutions) available below.

AA_SL_Test1_trig_SOL_KEY_v1
Solution key (worked solutions) for SL trigonometry test above.


AA_SLHL_Test1_trig_v2 
Trigonometry unit test that can be used with SL and/or HL students. Questions 1-7 for SL students (40 marks), and Qs 1-9 for HL students (50 marks). Questions 8 & 9 are good 'discriminating' questions for HL students; that is, students for which HL is too challenging will usually not do well on Qs 8 & 9. GDC allowed on all questions. Solution key (worked solutions) available below.

AA_SLHL_Test1_trig_SOL_KEY_v2 
Solution key (worked solutions) for SL-HL trigonometry unit test1 above.


AA_SLHL_Test2_trig_v1
A second trigonometry unit test for SL and/or HL students. No GDC on questions 1-6. GDC allowed on questions 7-11. Solution key (worked solutions) available below.

AA_SLHL_Test2_trig_SOL_KEY_v1
Solution key (worked solutions) for SL-HL trigonometry unit test1 above.

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